The invention relates to bearing assemblies, and, more particularly, to spherical bearing assemblies or ball joint assemblies.
Conventional ball joint assemblies include a head portion defining a spherical socket and a shank portion connected to the head portion and defining an internally threaded bore. The socket receives a spherical bearing member, and the bore receives an externally threaded shank member.
It is known in the art to construct a bearing assembly from two stamped halves. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,746,408, issued July 17, 1973 to Wachter. Typically, the halves are secured together by crimping the periphery of one about the periphery of the other.
It is also known to form the threads in the bore either by tapping or roll forming. Both of these methods require an additional process beyond the stamping process in which the halves are formed. Furthermore, tapping leaves pieces of cut metal which must be removed from the bore.
Attention is also directed to U.S. Pat. No. 3,614,182, issued Oct. 19, 1971, to Rozentals, U.S. Pat. No. 3,438,661, issued Apr. 15, 1969, to Bowen, and Danish Patent No. 99,240, issued Dec. 23, 1959.